In 2014, Kingsman: The Secret Service arrived with magnificent, all-around praise for giving audiences a fun spy film. It had almost all the ingredients of a James Bond movie, from a funky villain to high-octane, stylized action sequences. What made it different from other action and spy flicks, however, was the extra ingredient of humor, which Bond movies rarely have. Soon after we got the sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, which was much larger in scale but inconsistent in its tone, unable to reach the bar set by its predecessor. Now, a few years later, we have a new Kingsman movie, this time about the origin of its titular organization.
Set in the early 20th century, The King’s Man opens with a tragedy, with Orlando Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) losing his wife Emily (Alexandra Maria Lara) to an attack from an enemy of the British Empire. Before she takes her final breath, Emily makes Orlando promise that their son, Conrad (Harris Dickinson), will never see another war in his life. Many years later, Orlando has kept his promise, but the world is a cruel place as a group of history’s worst tyrants gather to begin a war to wipe out millions. Now, Orlando has to decide to either keep his promise or get Conrad involved and stop this war from happening.
Desperate situations, following catastrophic events like world wars, have led to the creation of organizations like MI6 and the CIA throughout history. Director Matthew Vaughn and screenwriter Karl Gajdusek use the backdrop of World War I to set the events for the formation of the Kingsman. We see Orlando as an influential person whom even the King of England listens to. Behind his influence is a secret underground team with his domestic servants Polly Wilkins (Gemma Arterton) and Shola (Djimon Hounsou), who have created a network around the world of people in similar professions that become eyes and ears to the most powerful and influential people on earth. Because, as always, knowledge is power.
The crux of the film lies in the father-son relationship. You see the lengths Orlando goes to keep Conrad safe and away from the violence of the world. Conrad tries his earnest to obey his father, but he just can’t keep being a sheltered child, especially when there is bloody war going on, perceiving himself as cowardly. But Orlando reminds him that, “Real power is not found running off to war. Real power lies in understanding who it is you’re truly fighting, and how they can be defeated.” Orlando wants Conrad to understand that the definition of being a man doesn’t solely rely on being ruthless, committing violent acts and dying in the name of your country; it also relies on the decisions he makes and how there are other ways of doing your duty.
Vaughn blends fact with fiction by using the events that led to World War I, like the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Ron Cook), with familiar faces like Rasputin (Rhys Ifans), Mata Hari (Valerie Pachner), Erik Jan Hanussen (Daniel Brühl) and Lenin (August Diehl) for his lead characters to fight with. But it all falls flat because of undercooked character arcs, solely relying on big names from history without giving them anything to do except be on screen for the sake of it. Only Rasputin gets his moment to shine and go totally bonkers on the mystic monk reputation he has gained over time. The scene between Orlando and Rasputin is one to watch out for, as it is equally sensual and terrifying at the same time. The rest of the villains don’t get any screen time to shine, more like blink and you miss it cameos.
The thing that set Kingsman apart from any other spy movie was its extravagance factor, an infusion of comedy, within its structure. While it maintains its stylization and the nobility that speaks volumes for the characters, it loses its way when Conrad decides to go on the front line to fight the enemies, with the tone shifting to a more serious drama than an action-adventure-comedy. At some moments, it feels like you’re watching a war film, and that tone and style continues until the end. Even the final action set-piece doesn’t have the charm of being over the top or the thrill to keep the audience engaged and care about the outcome. Even the reveal of the villain is a predictable twist which you can see from miles away.
Vaughn had a great opportunity to make use of every tool in his arsenal and give the audience an entertaining prequel; he even had the freedom to bend history as he pleases, given the structure and theme of the movie. However, Vaughn fails to match up the bar set by the first movie, and with The King’s Man, continues the trend of disappointing sequels and prequels, using an ordinary premise and straying away from the very thing the series is known for — fun spy movies.
